Bad Advice on How to Quit Porn

If you’ve decided to quit porn, there is a wealth of advice out there about how to make it stick. Some of this advice is great, but some of it is, frankly, hot garbage. Here are a few of the absolute worst ways to go about quitting porn.

Go it alone

Your pride might be telling you that you can handle this by yourself. That with enough willpower, you can kick the habit without any help. But here’s the thing: there is tremendous strength in asking for help. There is power in vulnerability. Get connected to resources that can help free you from this addiction for good. If you don’t know where to start, reach out now to get help.

Tell no one

Shame will make you want to keep your struggle a secret. It will make you afraid of what other people will think if they knew. But no one recovers from addiction in a vacuum. You need to be brutally, profoundly honest with at least one person about what you’re dealing with. Later, you may even want to be in a community of men who can share each other’s burdens. Secrets lose their power in the bright light of day. Tell the truth, and watch shame start to shrivel up and die. You aren’t alone in this. If you think you are, just check out the “NoFap” movement on Reddit. As of this writing, there is a community of 284,004 “Fapstronauts” committed to giving up porn and masturbation for good. Their reasons are legion, but they have one key thing in common: they are not doing this alone.

You don’t really need to quit porn

Do any of these thoughts sound familiar?

I don’t need to quit porn completely, maybe just cut back.

Everyone does it. How bad can it be?

It’s not hurting anyone.

Porn is everywhere; how can I even avoid it?

If sex is natural, then porn is natural too, right?

When I’m in a relationship, this won’t be an issue anymore.

Anything that’s a struggle to give up holds some kind of power over you. If you find yourself negotiating with yourself like this and making excuses for your behavior, take that as a red flag.